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- DON OWERS on PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 15 September 2019
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Category Archives: Economy
COLIN BROWN. The Indonesia-Australia Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA): A Game Changer? (Australian Outlook, 5 Sep 2019)
Despite their geographical proximity, Australia and Indonesia are minor trading partners. In 2018, Australian merchandise exports to Indonesia were valued at just $6,823 million, and imports from Indonesia $4,996 million. Trade in services was smaller still, as the exports to … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Economy, International Affairs
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RAGHURAM G. RAJAN. The True Toll of the Trade War (Project Syndicate, 5 Sep 2019)
Another day, another attack on trade. Why is it that every dispute – whether over intellectual property (IP), immigration, environmental damage, or war reparations – now produces new threats to trade?
Posted in Economy, International Affairs
1 Comment
MICHAEL PASCOE. While Canberra ignores the RBA, the world pays attention (The New Daily 27-8-19)
The federal government is increasingly giving Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe the cold shoulder while the world’s central banks are paying him serious attention.
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
BILL CLEMENTS. Grain silos and war memorials
In 2008, archaeologists from the University of Chicago discovered ancient grain storage silos in Southern Egypt. Made from mud brick, they were there when Jacob’s sons, in a time of famine, came seeking grain. We are fortunate that these silos … Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security, Economy
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ALEX COBHAM. We Could Eliminate Extreme Global Poverty If Multinationals Paid Their Taxes. (Truthout 18-8-19)
International tax rules have reached a crossroads. The reform programannounced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) this summer represents the last chance for the Organisation’s club of rich countries to find an approach that can curtail the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Human Rights
1 Comment
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
IAN McAULEY. Tuvalu, climate change and Westminster
The conventional wisdom is that Morrison’s intransigence on climate change, which has badly damaged our relations in the Pacific, is due to the arithmetic of his slim parliamentary majority. But why do we have to assume that our two-party “Westminster” … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
3 Comments
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
HAIQING YU. Inside the world of the Chinese shoppers who are unnerving Australians.
Reports on daigou (personal shoppers) in Australia have evoked mixed feelings about Chinese presence and influence in Australian everyday and economic lives.
Posted in Economy
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CHRISTOPHER SHEIL & FRANK STILWELL. The continuing redistribution of Australia’s wealth, upwards
The recent release of the results of the ABS’s biennial survey of income and wealth met a critical response, perhaps due to a slip-shod press release. The official statistician’s headline read: ‘Inequality stable since 2013-14’. In summary, the ABS announced, … Continue reading
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
Posted in Economy
Comments Off on SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
Posted in Economy
Comments Off on SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
MICHELLE PINI. Newstart, wage theft and big fat ducks (Independent Australia)
“Having a go” just to put food on the table? Unless you’re a well-fed restaurateur or politician, it’s unlikely that you’ll “get a go” from this Government.
Posted in Economy
3 Comments
BE SEO. Australia is turning into a car park for dirty vehicles (AFR 15.7.2019)
Australia’s most popular cars emit between 8 and 42 per cent more carbon dioxide than their UK counterparts, raising concerns that the country has become a parking lot for dirty vehicles.
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
PERCY ALLAN. How to Avoid a Recession – why QI should replace QE
Both the IMF and the OECD say that monetary policy is largely exhausted so fiscal policy should now be used to ramp up economic growth held back by the triple Ds of high Debt, ageing Demographics and disruptive Digitisation (including … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
6 Comments
MARTIN WOLF. Legacy of Bretton Woods is under threat (Financial Times 11.7.2019)
Trumpian populism is destroying 70 years of global economic co-operation. What can we put in its place?
Posted in Economy
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KIM WINGEREI. Facebook Libra Pitching for World Domination
Facebook’s Libra launch has the potential to propel Facebook into a major player in consumer payments and credit services and may turn out to be one of the most profound change to world’s financial systems since the abolishment of the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
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JOHN MENADUE. Here we go again- attacking unions and ‘red tape’.
With no policy agenda and with the economy sagging, the Morrison government(‘We are the good economic managers’) intends to take us back to what Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey offered us six years ago, an attack on the trade unions … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
5 Comments
MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison cranks out surplus fetish
Scott Morrison has a new obsession – the budget surplus. In spite of his assurances to the contrary, this has not actually been delivered, and there are growing doubts that it will be – the storm clouds, the head winds … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
11 Comments
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
MONIQUE ROSS. Why the Pharmacy Guild is the most powerful lobby group you’ve never heard of (ABC News)
It’s been called the most influential lobby group in Australia, and some believe it has the power to bring down a government if it really flexed its muscle.
MICHAEL KEATING Why the Stage 3 tax cuts will need to be revisited.
In previous articles I argued that Stage 3 of the Government’s proposed tax cuts should be opposed (see Pearls & Irritations, 30 May and 24 June). However, the Government appears to have the numbers to pass its proposed tax cuts … Continue reading
MIKE BRUCE. No jobs here: Penalty rate cuts fail to fire up employment growth (New Daily)
Jobs growth in the retail and hospitality sectors has more than halved since the introduction of Sunday penalty rates, a new study has revealed.
JOHN KERIN. Trump’s latest Farm Bill and Implications for Australia’s Farm Exports.
Trump’s trade policies and reaction to the rebound of them has resulted in another increase of $23b subsidisation on top of the $12b supposedly one-off package last year for US farmers who are ‘collateral damage, as a result of his … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs, Politics
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BRIAN LAWRENCE. The Government’s tax package and Labor’s response: the perspective of a cleaner
The Government’s tax package is unfair to low paid workers. In response, the Labor Opposition has just announced that it will support Stage 1 of the package, within which is embeded much of that unfairness. How might we reduce the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
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ANDREW PODGER. More Carefully Designed, a Stage Three Tax Measure Could Be a Responsible and Genuine Reform
At the time of last year’s budget, I wrote a [1] revealing how neither the Government’s nor the Labor Party’s then proposed tax changes would simplify the personal income tax system or offer genuine long-term reform. This was largely because … Continue reading
JOHN WILLOUGHBY. Reflections on the average health of average people
I’m writing this, in the concluding years of a career in neurology and neuroscience, concerned for humanity. What do I conclude about the human condition at this time? In a nutshell: we are what we are: overbreeding mammals headed for … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate
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MICHAEL KEATING. Lies, Damned Lies and [tax] statistics.
Last Saturday the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) published an article, which purported to show that “Middle and high-income earners will face some of the highest tax rates in the English-speaking developed world unless the Morrison government’s $158 billion tax plan … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
6 Comments